Portable clothes steamer with water gage

ABSTRACT

A HOUSING CONSTRUCTION IS PROVIDED FOR A PORTABLE APPLIANCE THAT STREAMS CLOTHES TO REMOVE WRINKLES. THE HOUSING COMPRISES AN UPRIGHTLY DISPOSED CYLINDRICAL TYPE HOLLOW WATERTIGHT MEMBER WITH AN ELECTRICALLY HEATED WATER CHAMBER INSIDE AND WHICH HAS UPPER AND LOWER INTERFITTING SECTIONS. A STREAM HEAD IS PROVIDED FOR TREATING A GARMENT AND A BAFFLE NETWORK BETWEEN IS DISPOSED IN A STREAM CONVEYANCE PATH BETWEEN THE HEAD AND THE WATER CHAMBER TO PREVENT SPILLING OF WATER WHEN THE MEMBER IS TILTED AND TO PREVENT SPUTERING OF STEAM FLOW BY CONDENSATION OF WATER.

FIGZ

B. FRANK Original Filed Feb. 27, 1968 FIG.|

INVENTOR BERNARD FRANK ATTORNEY PORTABLE CLOTHES STEAMER WITH WATER GAGEl l I I {4 v I l J 4 I L March 16, 1971 United States Patent Ofice US.Cl. 68-222 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A housing construction isprovided for a portable appliance that steams clothes to removewrinkles. The housing comprises an uprightly disposed cylindrical typehollow watertight member with an electrically heated water chamberinside and which has upper and lower interfit-ting sections. A steamhead is provided for treating a garment and a bafile network between isdisposed in a steam conveyance path between the head and the waterchamber to prevent spilling of water when the member is tilted and toprevent sputtering of steam flow by condensation of water.

This is a divisional application of US. Ser. No. 708,657 filed Feb. 27,1968, now Pat. No. 3,485,065.

This invention relates to a portable garment steamer, and morespecifically, it relates to structure for conveying steam from a heatedwater chamber to a steam head so that it may be used in steaming clothessuch as described in my copending application Ser. No. 692,828 now Pat.No. 3,470,719 for Fabric Treatment Means and Methods, which isincorporated herein as a reference to the state of the prior art.

In a portable garment steamer which is manually operated and isfashioned for storage in a suitcase, problems are presented in making awatertight structure that will nevertheless generate and direct steam toa garment. If valves or shutters are used to retain water inside asteamer and to permit steam to escape, the device becomes expensive andperhaps dangerous if steam is generated and shutters or valves are notopened. Portable steamers are designed to stand in a position such thatwater is directed by gravity toward an internal electrical heaterelement. In operation, however, as the steamer is handled, it is tiltedand tipped or even held in an upside down position momentarily. Also, itmay be tipped over from its stand position, and in storage in a suitcasemay be left for long periods in almost any position. It is desirable notto have to remove water from the device between use, and even ifattempted, some drops remain that could leak.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a simpleinexpensive garment steamer.

It is another object of the inventionto provide a garment steamerwithout any moving parts.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a gar ment steamerthat is leakproof and which may be stored in any position with waterinside.

These and other objectives and features of the invention will berecognized in the following description of a preferred embodiment of theinvention, which makes reference to the accompanying drawings, whereinFIG. 1 is an elevation view of a garment steamer constructed inaccordance with the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a top view, partly in section, of a bafile element arrangementprovided in accordance with this invention.

By reference to the drawings, it is seen that the portable 3,570,276Patented Mar. 16, 1971 garment steamer rests upon a stand 5 to hold itssubstantially cylindrical, hollow body 6 vertically disposed with anapertured steam head 7 at the top to permit steam 8 to escape.Basically, the body 6 is watertight with a lower water chamber 9 havingan electrical heater assembly 10 therein for heating the water 11.Preferably, the body is of plastic or has some insulating holdingportion if of metal, since the steamer is hand held and this insulatesthe hand from the heated water and steam. The body is divided into upper12 and lower sections 9 which are coupled at an intermediate position 14by means of an interfitting coupling arrangement 15. This coupler can beeither a threaded coupler or a bayonet type removable coupling whichproduces a generally watertight seal at the coupling.

The upper member 12 serves as a steam conveyance means between the lowerwater chamber member 9 and the steam head 7. Within this member 12 isdisposed an array of baffles 20 with aperture or slot sections 21disposed in such a manner that escaping steam must take a zig-zag path22 out of the water chamber.

In this configuration, the top section 12 may be removed at the coupling15 and the baffle array is affixed inside the top section by means ofrod 25 and rivet or screw 26 to extend coaxially within the confines ofthe top section 12. As may be seen from the top view of FIG. 2, therod-bafile assembly is made of a plastic material with the semi-circularwafer-like bafiles 20 disposed at an angle from the vertical body axisto provide at their lowermost extremities the slot-aperture position 21through which the steam escapes. The baffles 20 may be of a semirigidplastic at least about the edges of the discs disposed on rod 25 tocomprise flexible diaphragm-like contact at the engaging surfaces 30with the interior surface of the upper section 12 when the rod-discassembly is inserted into the top section 12, thereby providing inessence a watertight seal except at the aperture portions 21.

Preferably, the angle a from the vertical axis 3 1 at which the bafflesare disposed is chosen to produce several desirable features. Any waterdroplets or condensation are directed by gravity back into the waterchamber 9 by these baffles 20 through the reverse zig-zag path of that22 taken in exit of the steam. This prevents any sputtering or wettingof the garment by means of water escaping with the steam 8. Also, thenumber of baffles may be chosen to produce the desired valvelessleakproof feature of this construction. It may be seen that the amountof water 11 is limited to a height of 14 beyond which it may not befilled when upper member 12 is removed. This is the amount that may beefiiciently heated to steam and which resides below the first escapeaperture 21A when the water is heated in the stand position.

To illustrate the leakproof feature, assume that the steamer tipped onits side. The water might escape into the first compartment 40 throughaperture 21A but would remain trapped there. Slots 21, 21A may bestaggered as shown in FIG. 2 if desired, to assure that water does notreach the head 7 in any rotary position when the body 6 is lying on itsside. When returned to upright position, the water will return to thewater chamber 9.

Even should the steamer be held temporarily in upside down positionduring use or in storage, the sloping baflles will constitute a seriesof cups designed with a capacity to hold the water capacity of waterchamber 9 without reaching or spilling out of the apertures 45 in head7. Even should some of the water reach the head 7, its angulardisposition provides much the same action as the batfles, and thecentrally disposed escape apertures 45 are surrounded by internallyfacing bosses or ridges so that a significant water level must beintroduced to perm1t leakage.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable garment steamer comprising in combination a housing havinga water chamber, heating means disposed to heat water in said chamber,an apertured steam head connected with said housing for treating agarment with steam escaping from the heated water and removableconnection means dividing the steamer housing into two interfittingsections one of which comprises said water chamber permitting the entryof water thereinto, wherein the two sections are joined at anintermediate position which limits the amount of water to be held in thechamber to a specified volume.

2. A steamer as defined in claim 1, wherein said steam head extends awayfrom and is disposed at an angle to the housing.

3. A steamer as defined in claim 1, wherein said head member comprises aflat outer surface having at least one centrally located apertureextending with inwardly facing surrounding bosses.

4. A steamer as defined in claim 1, wherein said head member comprises afiat plate with a plurality of steam emitting apertures distributedthroughout its surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS WILLIAM 1. PRICE, PrimaryExaminer

